Zanki Zero: Last Beginning Will Be Censored to Ensure Western Release

Spike Chunsoft has announced changes to the western version of Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, along with a delay to the game's release.

Zanki Zero: Last Beginning is a story-driven survival RPG for PS Vita, PS4 ,and PC. It was released in Japan in 2018, with the English release originally slated for March 2019. The game takes place on a lush and colorful island in a post-apocalyptic future. The player controls 8 different characters, each in a separate story chapter. Said people are clones with a 13-day lifespan, and are cloned again when they expire, starting anew as children. The game received exceedingly high review scores in Japan.

While fans awaited the English release of Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, Spike Chunsoft announced plans to censor the game’s content, in order to guarantee the western release, as stated in the following tweet:

Staying fair to their potential customers, Spike Chunsoft has provided a complete list of changes that will be made to all versions of the game, including the Steam PC release. The changes are mainly focused on avoiding a potential misinterpretation of content as sexualization of minors. The changes outlined include physical PS4 copies featuring different or modified artwork, three modified CGs, and the removal of all “child” bedtime event cutscenes.

To ensure a release for the West, content changes will also be included in the localized PlayStation®4 and Steam® (PC) versions. To reduce content which could be interpreted as sexualization of characters depicted as minors, the following changes have been made:

PlayStation®4 Packaging art

In order to conform to public storefront display standards, images that can be interpreted as too sexually provocative must be modified.Sachika Bedroom Scene CGIs

In the Japanese release, Sachika's panties are visible. In the Western release, Sachika is wearing pajama bottoms.Sachika CGI in the Opening Scene

In the Japanese release, Sachika's panties are visible. In the Western release, the camera angle has been raised to not show Sachika's panties.Child Rinko Extend Machine CGI

In the Japanese release, Child Rinko covers her chest with her arms. In the Western release, the position of her arms has been adjusted.All “Child” bedtime event cutscenes removed

Aside from the cut content, Spike Chunsoft has also announced the inclusion of the swimsuit DLC, a new difficulty mode, audio language selection, and general changes to the gaming experience:

We would like to inform the community about the following additions are included in the localized release:

Japanese Swimsuit DLC included in-game

Difficulty I: Lowered difficulty to allow players to focus on story and puzzle-solving (other difficulties have not been modified)

English voiceover option (Dual audio, choose from English or original Japanese)

Overall game balance and UI improvements

In light of these changes, the release date of Zanki Zero: Last Beginning has been moved from March 19th to April 9th, 2019. Spike Chunsoft has not made an official statement on the exact cause of these changes to Zanki Zero: Last Beginning.